12-year-old Alireza Firouzja is Iranian Champion

1/28/2016 – Three youths took the top three spots in the Iranian Championship that just ended in Tehran, Iran, and all three will be playing on the national team at the Olympiad in Baku later this year. At the top was 12-year-old Alireza Firouzja, who dominated the event and took first a full point ahead. He also became the youngest champion in history.

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The 2016 Iranian Championship was held in Tehran, Iran, ran from January 21-28. At stake was more than the title of Iranian Champion, but also five spots on the national team in the forthcoming Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan. In a field filled with young talents, were also veteran players such as top-seed Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (2594) who has already won it twelve times, or Darini Pouria who was the runner-up in 2015.

It was a fascinating and well conducted event

The games were all broadcast online via DGT boards

After ten rounds, the leader was twelve-year-old Alireza Firouzja, who faced one of the lowest rated
players in the field. The gold was not at all certain so a win was the only way to ensure the
top prize. He showed great character and won his game to take sole first a point ahead of the rest.

In second, going into the final round, was 15-year-old Parham Mahhsoodloo who had held
the lead for a couple of rounds, but now trailed by half a point. Parham may not ring any
bells, but he was the youngest participant of all in the last World Cup competition.

14-year-old Aryan Gholami, a former World Youth champion, managed to take silver in a
crowded fight for the top spots

GM Morteza Mahjoob and Mohammad Zarei, a veteran Iranian chess journalist. GM Majboob
is not only a former national champion, but is also one of Firouzja's current coaches. Another
of his current coaches is GM Arman Pashikian from Armenia, who prepared Alireza for every round.

Obviously, his most important supporter is his father, seated next to Alireza here

Shahin Lorparizangeneh, who came in fifth, and thus will be on the team, has already won
five Asian Youth chess titles!

GM Pouria Darini, who failed to make the team, might also have caused
the downfall of...

... GM Ehsan Maghami (left) had he won his final game. Instead, he only drew and Ehsan
made the squad.

Standing on the left is IA Kaveh Honari, a former vice-champion, who was the chief arbiter

It wasn't his most memorable tournament, but Maziar Bagheri did leave with a win of his own

On the left is Omid Noroozi, playing Shahin Lorparizangeneh. If Omid seems distracted, he
has good reason: in three weeks he will be getting married!

World Under-18 champion Masoud Mosadeghpour also missed out on
the team after coming in eighth

Albert SilverBorn in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications.

See also

3/1/2017 – In the second game of the four-game finals for the Women's World Championship 2017, Tan Zhongyi managed to put immense pressure on birthday-girl Anna Muzychuk with the white pieces. She played a technical game, perfectly suiting her style, and won thanks to the bad knight in her opponent's position. Illustrated report with GM analysis by Elshan Moradiabadi.

See also

2/28/2017 – In the first game of the four-game finals for the Women's World Championship 2017, Tan Zhongyi managed to carry out her game strategy by forcing a calm and strategic play onto Anna Muzychuk. The opening she chose to play with black did not allow Anna, with her white any chances to put pressure. Illustrated report with GM analysis by Elshan Moradiabadi.

Video

The introductory position of the Kasparov Gambit can occur after 1 d4,1 Nf3 and 1 c4, which can appeal to a wide range of players. The usual move order is 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3 Nf3 cxd4 4 Nxd4 e5!? 5 Nb5 d5 6 cxd5 Bc5 bringing us to a very sharp position. On this 60 mins, FIDE Senior Trainer Andrew Martin argues the case from the Black side, showing both classic Kasparov masterpieces and games from the present day and suggests that White's defensive task is not easy. This is a practical gambit which will help players at all levels to win more games. It is ideal for must-win situations with Black. It is a gambit that White cannot decline,as if he does, Black gets a good position instantly. White must take up the cudgels and fight!

@Leonilo There is no ban on chess in Islam. Never has been. That was one religious authority giving his opinion on chess when asked. It was blown far out of proportion.

KrushonIrina 1/29/2016 07:02

Youngest national champion of any nation ever? Research please.

KevinC 1/29/2016 05:26

@mauro avon, It would be nice if I were wrong, but I do not think so. In the finals for a national championship, having to play two foreign players (the requirement for 12 rounds) is waived, so that is not a problem. His performance was easily over 2500, again not a problem for getting a norm. His problem is that for a 12-round tournament, he still needed to play four Grandmasters, but he only played two.

On the bright side, he picked up about 20 rating points, so he is now closer to the 2500 requirement, AND even without this counting as a norm, I am sure he will be a GM in no time.

Leonilo 1/29/2016 05:19

Hopefully, this tournament wasn't affected by recent islam chess ban.

mauro avon 1/29/2016 11:23

did he score a grandmaster norm?

fightingchess 1/29/2016 10:08

three kids win the competition! end of an era for Ghaem maghami who will be caught very soon by these youngsters in rating list.